What needs to change?

Everyone deserves to access a dignified funeral when someone they love dies. More and more people can't. The public are more and more concerned by this, and funeral poverty is having a spotlight shone upon it through widespread media coverage.

The government has ignored funeral poverty for far too long. We’re lobbyingcentral and local government, demanding they improve how bereaved people on low incomes are supported. The cost of funerals predicted to rise even further above inflation, and more people are approaching the end of their lives than ever before. All evidence suggests that the problem's set to become a ticking time bomb without action from government.

Cross-government solutions

Different government departments need to work together to make a sustainable impact on rising funeral poverty. Right now this isn’t happening.

Saving the state safety net

Over the last 13 years the value of the Social Fund Funeral Payment, the main source of government support to bereaved people on low incomes, has dwindled in real terms. The Fund, available to people on qualifying benefits where there are no other means to pay for the funeral, used to cover the full price of a basic funeral. It now covers only 35% of the price. Worse still, even successful applicants are left with huge and often unmanageable debts, with the average shortfall standing at £2,355.

There are lots of ways the Social Fund system could be improved to help bereaved people in distress. Applying for the Fund is too lengthy and complex a process. Many bereaved people miss out on the money they’re entitled to - and need - because the form is too confusing.

In January 2016, a poll by the Daily Mirror found that 83% of people agree the ‘DWP should provide more money for poor people’s funerals.

Changes to Bereavement benefits – 75% of people suddenly worse off

Bereavement benefits support people when their spouse or civil partner dies. Huge changes came into place in April 2017, making it much worse for new claimants. The main group which will be negatively affected is widowed parents with dependent children: the Childhood Bereavement Network estimates that 96% of families will be supported for a shorter period, and at least 75% of whom will be worse off in cash terms.

Cohabiting couples

Under the new system (introduced in April 2017), as with the previous system, cohabiting couples can’t claim Widowed Parent’s Allowance, even if they had children together and had been living together for many years. However, a recent ruling at the High Court in Belfast found that a woman who had been with her partner for 23 years and had four children with him should be eligible for Widowed Parent’s Allowance. This was changed on appeal, but with family dynamics changing swiftly across the country, eligibility rules need to modernise.

Recommendations for policy makers

Increase the Funeral Fund
Review the way Social Fund awards are calculated to update payments in line with inflation.

A full review of support to the bereaved
Conduct a full review of financial support for those facing bereavement. Set out clear policy objectives reflecting what the government wants to achieve with their financial support to bereaved people.

Set up an ‘eligibility checker’
Currently applicants have to wait until the funeral has happened before they know if they’ll get any help from the Social Fund, by which time they’ve had to commit to climbing funeral costs.

Be explicit about how much people will get
The Social Fund form should state that the Fund doesn’t cover the price of a basic funeral.The form is misleading, and many people still think they’re going to get the full cost, only to be left shortchanged.

Improve uptake
Uptake of all bereavement benefits is very low. This should be investigated and a process for automatically notifying those who are eligible explored.

Extend eligibility to cohabiting parents
Eligibility for Widowed Parent’s Allowance should be extended to unmarried, cohabiting partners with dependent children with the person who died.

Tackling increasing funeral costs

Funeral directors' fees and local authority fees for burials and cremations are both increasing steeply, well above inflation.

Funeral directors' fees

Funeral directors charge hugely different prices for the same goods and services. Finding clear, comparable prices can be very difficult. Most funeral directors don’t put prices on their websites and many won't even offer their most affordable options over the phone. This is a huge problem when you consider how vulnerable bereaved people tend to be as consumers and how unlikely they are to shop around. We're bringing transparency to the funeral industry with our Fair Funerals pledge.

Local authority fees

The cost of local authority cremations has increased by a third in five years. And there are big differences in what authorities charge, from £495 in Lichfield to £1080 in Hackney, suggesting there is more than inflationary pressure at work.

In places like London where land is scarce, the price of burials has increased massively. Burials in Kensal Green cost on average £9,809.

The Institute of Cemetery and Crematoria Management have raised serious concerns about the future sustainability of local authority burial and cremation services.

Private crematoria

Partly in response to budgetary pressures, more local authorities are selling their cremation services to private companies. The numbers of privately owned crematoria has risen by more than 200% over the last 20 years. This is a cause for concern because private crematoria charge the bereaved consumer on average 13% more for the same service provided by local authority crematoria (data from the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management).

Justify price hikes
Local authorities should be required to justify above-inflation increases to fees charged for burials and cremations.

Transparent local authority charges
Require local authorities to publish fixed, comparable cremation and burial charges on their websites.

Low cost municipal funeral services
Provide guidance to local authorities on running their own municipal funeral service in partnership with local funeral directors. Working schemed that have managed to broker more affordable prices for local people in authorities include Nottingham, St Helen’s, Cardiff and Hounslow.

Re-use abandoned grave space
The price of burials are going up because cemeteries are rapidly running out of space - address this by enabling full and partial use of unused and abandoned burial plots (as proposed in the Scottish Burial and Cremations Bill).

Starting conversations

It’s not easy talking about death. It’s even less easy talking about death and money. Professionals often shy away from talking about the cost of funeral for fear of offending people. On top of that, there is very little clear, neutral information about the financial aspects of death out there.

The state has a significant role to play in initiating conversations and providing information that will help people avoid funeral poverty.

Recommendations for policy makers

Public awareness campaign
Lead a public initiative to increase awareness of funeral costs and facilitate greater discussion on the financial aspects of death and dying.

Clear, neutral information
Provide bereaved people with clear, neutral information about organising a funeral. Professionals such as hospital bereavement services, registrars and benefits services would be well-placed to help disseminate this.

The rise of state-funded funerals

Local authorities and hospitals have a statutory duty to make arrangements for a funeral where there are insufficient funds in the deceased’s estate or among family and friends.

The number of public health funerals organised by councils has massively increased by 50% in just four years. This cost to the state was £1.7 million in 2013, but by 2017 had climbed to £8.8 million. This figure will continue to rise steeply until sustainable action is taken to address funeral poverty.

Through our Down to Earth project we support more and more people who have no choice but to turn to a public health funeral, either because they’re ineligible for financial support, because the Social Fund is inadequate or because it takes too long to pay out. People who access public health funerals are often among the most vulnerable that we work with.

There are no national guidelines on how hospitals and local authorities manage public health funerals and in reality there are huge discrepancies in how these services are provided. In response to budgetary pressures many local authorities are making it more difficult for bereaved people to access a public health funeral.

Recommendations for policy makers

A cross-departmental approach
Limits on benefits for the bereaved should be set considering public finances overall. It’s likely that limits on the Social Fund are working to displace costs onto hospitals and local authorities forced to provide public health funerals.

National guidelines
Central government should provide guidelines to hospitals and local authorities to establish national minimum standards for public health funerals.